Egg-opener.



lUNiTEn STATES Patented February '7, 1905,

PATENT EETCE.

ARTHUR C. V. MERRIFIELD AND HENRY POTTER, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

EGG-OPENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,089, dated February 7, 1905.

Application filed August 16, 1904. Serial No. 220,977.

To all whom it 71mg/ comic/772':

Be it known that we, ARTHUR C. V. Menni- FrnLD and Huizer POTTER, citizens of the United States. and residents of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Egg-Opener. of which the following' is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to a device for facilitating' the opening o'f eggs. It is intended for various uses, but particularly for hotel and restaurant work.

lt is well known, particularly among hotel and restaurant men, that great inconvenience and annoyance is occasioned in serving' boiled eggs, which are generally opened by the waiter in the presence of the customer and which practice frequently results in spilling part of the eggs and soiling the table-linen and producing' an unpleasant effect upon the customer.

Our invention seeks to overcome this con-A dition; and it consists, therefore, ina novel or peculiarly-constructed device adapted to embrace the egg and provided with one or more blades which serve to make an incision or incisions in the egg-shell, facilitating breaking the shell apart, the device then holding the two parts of the shell in a position to facilitate the removal of their contents with perfect cleanliness and ease.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, which show as an example the preferred embodiment of the invention, and in which drawings like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views, in which- Figure l is a view illustrating the device in use,showing the parts of the shell separated and ready to have their contents removed therefrom. Fig. Q is a plan view of the device engaged with the egg' preparatory to using the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the egg open and the parts inverted to permit dropping the yolk; and Fig. i is an inner end elevation of one of the two parts of the device, a hinge between said parts being shown in section.

Each part ofthe device comprises a main part orbandu, formedof resilientmaterial andhaving its ends ovcrlapped,as indicated at f/ in Fig. i, to permit enlarging or contracting the bands b v pressure thereon, thus adapting it to eggs of various sizes. Each band u is also provided with a suitable number of outwardlyprojecting springlingers Z, adapted to lie against the egg, as shown in Fig'. 2, so as to hold the same firmly in position. The two bands fr are connected by a hinge c. so that they may move toward and from each other, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3. Attached to each band is a spring-arm (I, and said arms have their free ends widened and roughened to permit convenient manipulation, and each arm carries at its free end an inwardly-projecting blade e, which blades are adapted to extend through slots a in the bands n, so as to be pressed into the egg to make incisions in the shell thereof. The blades I are placed in line with each other when the sections or bands a are engaged by providing each band with a projecting portion a3, these projecting portions allowing the slots ai to be placed in line with the meeting' edges of the bands.

ln using the device the two sections are moved apart and the egg introduced between them, after which the sections are closed against each other, as shown in Fig. Q. ',lhe device is now clasped, one section in each hand of the user, and the arms f/ are pressed inward, causing the blades a to enter the shell and make two incisions therein. After this is done the sections should be moved apart, as Fig. 3 illustrates, the blades f being' kept pressed whileengaged with the shell, this resulting in breaking' the shell apart in two sections, as shown.A As this breaking movement is effected the egg should be inverted, allowing the yolk to drop therefrom into the glass or other receptacle intended t o receive the egg. The two parts of the opening' device, with the sections of the engaged therein, may now be held in one hand, as Fig. l illustrates` leav- .lOO

ables the egg to be opened quickly, but it also avoids crushing the shell, spilling' the contents thereof, and various other disadvantages well known coincident to the ordinary manner of doing this work.

Various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of our invention may be resorted to at will without departing1 from the spirit and scope thereof. Hence we consider ourselves entitled to all such variations as may lie within the terms of our claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. An egg-opener comprising two sections each formed of a resilient band having its end overlapped and loosely engaged together for the purpose specified, a means for hingedly connecting' the bands at each side, and ameans removed from the lirst-named means for making an incision in the shell of the egg.

2. An egg-opener comprising two sections, each formed of a resilient band having its end overlapped and loosely engaged together for the purpose specied, a means for hingedly blades mounted on the bands and movable respectively through the slots thereof for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. i

ARTHUR C. V. MERRIFIELD. HENRY POTTER.

l/Vitnesses:

TV. J. RAFFERTY, VILLIAM J MURRAY. 

